Here’s a coxswain’s-eye view of the Overpeck 2K race course for rowing. It is filmed from my single but speeded up to cover the course in about 3 minutes. I tried to steer in the middle of the three lanes. You can see that there are stake boats, buoys every 500m, and a new pair of white stakes on the western shore every 500m as well. The course markings are much improved this year (thanks to Columbia!). The headwind sucks me off course twice (rowing boats get pulled around into the wind due to rotation around their center of mass), and I have to avoid a seagull and some debris, but I try to stay aimed at the middle target. If you are in the westernmost lane (nearest to the buildings), there is a kind of optical illusion that makes you want to steer too close to shore and then have to curve around after the narrow point at the 500m mark, but in reality it is a straight shot to the finish, so don’t get fooled!

Note: If you go above the Route 46 bridge on your warmup, always go through the center arch, and you have to stay far to the eastern shore, well outside the white State of NJ buoys that protect a bald eagle’s nest.